Leslie Feinberg, known for hir contributions to trans literature, as well as her work with working-class activism, died from “multiple tick-borne co-infections, including Lyme disease, babeisiosis, and protomyxzoa rheumatica,” according to the Advocate.

Feinberg’s breakout book, 1993′s Stone Butch Blues, won numerous awards and set hir apart as a powerful voice in the trans community. Covering themes from gender, the blight of the working class, and being alone, Stone Butch Blues was scene as the quintessential lesbian novel and is still considered important in lesbian-book circles.

“Feinberg attempts to present [Jess] Goldberg’s life as the personal side of political history,” reads the review from the inside jacket of Stone Butch Blues. “But the narrative seems unattached to time despite the insertion of landmark events like the Stonewall riot and the mention of Reagan and the Moral Majority.

In 2009, a noticeably ill Feinberg spent her 60th birthday at a lecture in Syracuse. You can watch the entirety of that presentation below:

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